RAVENNA -- The Ravenna Ravens were flying high with school spirit before the football team took the field for its first home game of the season.

There was even an extra sense of school pride for a new and improved stadium complete with a blue turf field.

"Personally, I love it," says senior cheerleader Kirstin Orona. "It's bright, and I'm just excited to cheer on it tonight."

The idea for the colorful artificial turf came out of necessity when the school was short on green for a new field.

"We need to figure out a way to pay for it, so we thought a little bit of uniqueness, Ravenna Blue, might be a little hook to community people," explains Ravenna Schools Superintendent Dennis Honkala. "We did some informal surveying of people and the idea caught on like wildfire."

Twenty local businesses chipped in $750,000 for a new multi-purpose field, scoreboard and track.

"I mean, what an impressive show of support for students," says Honkala. "These business folks just stepped right up and said we want to do this for the kids, we want to do this for the school and the community. It's the right thing to do, and we're Ravenna and we're Ravens, and we're going to do it."